In the Middle
by TiffThom
Summary: I was caught in the middle of something I could never explain. Saiyan men are like that, you know; inexplicable and scary as hell.
1. Prologos

**I'm finally posting something! I have no idea which direction I'm going to take this in, but it will definitely be a Goku/Chi-Chi/Vegeta/Chi-Chi fic. It won't be sunshine and roses. It'll get ugly. This chapter is short. Just an intro. **

**I don't own DBZ or anything affiliated with it. I barely own my car. **

**Enjoy!**

**Prologos**

Another minute fritters away. The disgustingly clean smell of the house nearly makes me gag, but when your husband is a certified slob, the stench of cleaning supplies is a constant companion. He still believes I don't know that he did it; that he literally destroyed my last chance at true love and happiness. Perhaps, he is well aware that I know, but loves to play me as he always has.

It is always a game with him, kind of like his training sessions. He's managed to turn his entire life into a childish game and enjoys reining me in from the sidelines to play with him.

Parenthood is like sparring to him; something that brings him great enjoyment, but nonetheless tires him out. And when Goku is tired, he definitely takes a break. He's often checked out of parenthood like he would a training session. The only difference is with training; he'll demolish a village's worth of food and get right back to it. With parenting, he'll claim the greater good and stay dead for years at a time.

How dare I get tired of the nights I soaked my pillows in tears waiting for him to come home? How dare I get tired of raising his half-alien monsters alone all the while fearing that they would hug me too tightly and crush my ribs? How dare I ask him for a divorce and fall in love with his longtime rival?

That was the mistake. If I never gave Vegeta the time of day, he would still be alive.

Who knew Son Goku, savior of the universe, wasn't the benevolent big guy everyone thought he was?

There was always something about him I couldn't quite put my finger on.


	2. Tetelastai

**Here's an update for you guys :). Thanks for the reviews. I do appreciate them and look forward to others digging the story. Let me just say that this is not an "I hate Goku" story. Goku's not the monster and Vegeta is not the prince that rides in to save the day. We all know that's not Vegeta. He's an asshole. With that said, I don't want you guys to get the wrong idea. Ok. That's enough explaining myself. **

**I don't own DBZ or anything affiliated with it.**

**Tetelestai**

My life didn't go to hell all at once. One paramount decision led to another and another until I almost began to believe I had merely dreamt the shambles daring to call itself my existence.

Oh, if only all of this was simply a nightmare.

It all started with my decision to divorce Goku. It came as a shock to him and our sons, but neither could conceive or bother, in their shared Saiyan stupor, to perceive that each time they failed to come home to eat the seemingly interminable delicacies I slaved over, I began to fray at the edges.

How about the times I flat out prohibited Gohan's participation in the battles between good and evil that always cost _me_ more than I ever expected to pay?

How about the way Goku would wind up smacking me through the wall and swear it was an accident because he just didn't know his own strength?

_Liar._

He brought the universe's supreme threats to their knees. Of course, slapping me on the back for being "too hard on the boys" would send me careening through sheet rock, brick, and mortar.

Had he injured me all of those times, while feigning innocence, in a twisted attempt to bend me to his will as he had his enemies? I did find myself always buckling and allowing my firstborn to grace the battlefield and put his life on the line.

Son Goku was a tricky devil.

Finally, I was strong enough to admit that I'd had enough and I was prepared to walk away.

One evening, after dinner and the completion of other chores, I sat outside to watch the three of them beat the hell out of each other. I winced every time my little Goten took a hit to the gut. Sure, he was strong and could even become a Super Saiyan, but he was still only nine years old.

Two years passed since Majin Buu wreaked havoc on our lives. Goku was home for good, but I could still sense his desire to quit our family life and find himself elsewhere. I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

_"Guess what?" He said. "Old Kai granted me a life so I'm not dead anymore."_

_"You're kidding me," I beamed. "You mean we're going to live together as a family of four in our little house?"_

_"That's what I was planning on if you guys think you can put up with me," He smiled._

We were all so happy in that moment. My husband was back for good and he loved me. How did it all go so wrong?

I watched them continue to fight. I suddenly realized I was wringing the fabric of my skirt in my hands. It was all I could do to keep from crying. I was about to devastate my children and go back on my almost lifelong desire to simply find myself wherever Goku happened to be.

However, I never quite mastered that. Goku went places I couldn't go. His mind was a vortex with the desire to test his physical limits being the axis. He didn't revolve around me, around us, like I did. That was difficult for me to come to terms with and even after all that has happened, it still is.

"Mom, look!" Gohan called out after noticing my attention to them had waned.

I smiled weakly. My Gohan. He had such potential. I was so happy to witness the young man he'd become and glory in the fact that he didn't turn into a muscle-bound thug without a brain. He was the perfect scholar and things were getting more and more serious with him and Videl Satan. She was a fine girl; strong-willed like I was. I hoped she would take over my duties of drowning his Saiyan proclivities with as much humanity as possible.

Goku was solely focused on the fight. He didn't stop ever so often to cast me a glance like the boys did. I didn't rouse him the way roughhousing did.

I finally had my fill of watching them and decided to take a shower to calm my nerves and talk myself out of leaving my husband. I was overreacting. I was always overreacting. Wasn't I?

The flow of the shower was too much. It didn't wash away my fear. It only invoked the downpour I tried to choke back for two decades. I tried to contain myself for fear that my children would hear me weeping, but I couldn't look at myself another day and lie. I was unhappy and the author of my discontent was a man that believed loving and protecting his family meant staying away from us.

The salt of my tears was laden with so much bitterness I could have choked. How could he do the things he did and still don that big grin and make my heart melt?

I had to get away because it was so easy to fall under Goku's spell. I once could never deny him anything.

I dressed and wrapped myself snugly in the covers after making sure the boys were in bed. Goten would stay away all night if he could. However, that night, he was too tuckered out from trying to keep up with Daddy and Big Brother. He was out like a light without a fight. Gohan had finals and luckily, it wasn't a struggle for him to put school first anymore.

I hadn't successfully talked myself out of my decision to leave Goku, but I did amend my course of action just a bit. I wouldn't flat out leave him. I would just try to tell him how I felt in a way he could understand.

My heart most certainly skipped a beat when I heard him open the bedroom door. My back was turned to him. The room suddenly grew hotter and my heart beat so loudly I could almost hear it. I wasn't ready. I was trapped between the truth and a beautiful lie. I should have just been happy the way things were. It's not like Goku ever meant any harm. He was the most targeted man in the universe. He thought staying away was the only way to keep his family and friends safe. He was a little misguided sometimes, but he meant well. I just didn't understand him.

I told myself so many things, but all they did was magnify the truth. Before I could coach myself one way or the other any longer, Goku slipped into bed and was almost snoring immediately. I nudged him to jar him awake.

"Chi Chi, not tonight. Training was brutal today. Those boys are so strong," He said.

If there were any doubts left in my mind, they melted away instantly. How dare he? Sex was the last thing on my mind and clearly, the last thing on his. We had not been intimate in months. I grit my teeth in anger.

"Goku, get up!" I commanded. I got up to turn on the lights.

Goku struggled to completely open his eyes and sat up lazily. I stood in front of the bed with my hands on my hips. I was blind with rage. It was as if he was the trigger and I was Vesuvius ready to spew my infernal judgment on anything within reach.

"Chi Chi, it's really late," He whined.

"I want a divorce," I said quickly. I didn't have time to hesitate.

His eyes widened and began following me as I started grabbing things to pack. We didn't even have to discuss who would leave. I had enough courtesy to know that he really could not take care of himself. I could always go to my father's. He got out of the bed and began laughing. The son of a bitch actually laughed. I looked at him and simply shook my head. I never ceased packing my things. Soon, Goku was howling and holding his belly and mouth to stifle his laughter and not wake the boys.

"Chi Chi, if it's really that important to you, we can fool around," He sauntered towards me in a lame attempt to be sexy.

Before I could think, my hand connected with the left side of his face. We both stood in silence for a moment. I almost allowed shock and disbelief in myself to set in, but I sighed and continued to pack. He rubbed his cheek and worry replaced his amusement. Was it finally setting it that I wasn't joking?

"Chi Chi? Chi Chi?" He was now following me around the room: from the closet to the bed where my bag lay, to the dresser, back to the closet. It was like he didn't exist. I had spoken and I really fucking meant it.

"No! Why are you doing this?" He was worried.

I was silent.

"Answer me!" He yelled and quickly covered his mouth.

I dropped the things in my hands and lessened the space between us. I found myself eye to eye with those black pools that drowned my life's hopes and dreams like children unawares.

"I won't do this anymore, Goku. I won't. I'm not happy and I haven't been for a very long time. All you do is train and tend to the needs of everyone else, but the woman you promised to be with. I've become a convenient cooking and cleaning service to you. I am tired and I won't put up with it anymore. We're through."

My tone was sure and confident. I'd only mulled over what I would finally say a couple hundred times.

"Chi Chi, I've been saving the world. Worlds! I know I haven't been home as much as I should, but what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go the extra mile instead of expecting me to just be okay with you saving the world as an excuse. You never tried to make me okay with how you chose to save the world; being away for months on end, having the option to come home and deciding to stay adrift in space without a thought of how I was taking care of our children. You just made the serious error of believing that I would just accept it. I'm sorry, Goku. You were so wrong. I'm done. I can't keep living like I'm okay with having a husband that simply pays me visits."

He was at a loss for words. Typical. He placed a hand awkwardly behind his head in that sheepish way that once brought a jovial curl to my lips. Now, it only disgusted me. I understood his unction to defend and protect. I had no problem with it. I couldn't because he was the only one equipped for the job. It was his destiny, almost like a slap in the face to his Saiyan ancestry. He didn't destroy civilizations and wield his might over the weak. But sadly, he was in the business of a different type of destruction. He took the people who loved him most and destroyed them from the inside out. He made me and our children last on his list of priorities.

"What about the boys?" Goku asked.

Tears almost instantly threatened my eyes. The boys were the reason I had put off my decision for as long as I did. This time, I couldn't find anything to say. It was pointless. My children would be hurt possibly beyond repair. They idolized their father. I finished packing my things. His eyes were fixated on me. I'd only hoped for his undivided attention for decades. How ironic?

"Where are you going?" He managed. It almost sounded as if he was trying not to cry.

"Tonight, I'm going to the guest room. Tomorrow, I'm going to my father's house so be prepared for us to speak to the boys in the morning."

"Chi Chi, please. We owe it to the boys to not break up our family."

I cocked my head to the side and bit my bottom lip. I searched. I searched for the origin of the audacity that empowered him to speak on what _I_ owed our family.

"Goku." The sweetness of his name still lingered.

A part of me just didn't want to let go, but a bigger part couldn't keep hurting myself trying to hold on.

"Our family was broken long before tonight."

I picked up my things, turned off the bedroom light, and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.


End file.
